Weekday morning team, you need to focus!!
Reviewer: Michelle
from Santa Barbara, CA
I love jacks and I want to support them. However I'm writing this post to bring to light the dynamic duo of failure that works here on weekday mornings. The last 2 times my husband and I have been to this location this "team" got both our orders wrong. When we mention they messed up they argue with me... WTH??? 1st time they forgot my tomatoes. This was after I repeated my order 4 times to the gal behind the register. She even said, "You wanted tomatoes right?" Then we noticed my husbands bagel had a nominal amount of tomatoes, so he asked for more. The bagel assembler argued that if you order open face it comes with less. Never mind we have been coming to this place for well over 13 years; was everyone before you making this sandwich wrong? 2nd time I specifically asked for a POWER bagel, they gave me an everything. I told them they got the order wrong. Oh yeah, they argued with me again! they said I told the gal at the register I wanted a multi-grain she thought I said everything... Huh??? In my 13+ years coming here I never knew it was also called a multi-grain. Stop flippin arguing with me and make my 3 ingredient sandwich properly! It's not brain surgery. These people either need more training or they need to file for disability because if you can't even get a bagel order right at your age there isn't much hope for you. I will plan my next bagel adventure at Jack's in Carp.

Bagels and lox
Reviewer: Stuart
from Santa Barbara, CA
Truthfully the Jack's location in Carp. Is Much better than the on on upper State. I order the bagels and lox (the Monticito and the New Yorker are basicallt the samr thing) and they serve At Least twice as much lox in Carp. The bagels seem to be tastier too. The corned beef hash and eggs ate good as is the choice of bagels. This branch serbes Peets Coffee which is my favorite and today they had three different blends available. There is table service but most customers seem to buy bagels to go.

Mediocre Bagels.
Reviewer: chuck benwitt
from Santa Barbara, CA
There really are not any good bagels in SB, but these are ok. Real bagels are boiled....not steamned.
Chuck

Best Bagels around
Reviewer: Rick
from Santa Barbara, CA
Love the bagels, great service, great staff! I stop by on my way over the hill, they have never not been anything but 5 stars!

Best Bagel in SB
Reviewer: Paul L
from Santa Barbara, CA
I went here the other day and had the best pumpernickel bagel I have ever had. It was toasted perfectly and the amount of cream cheese was just right. Topped it off with an ice blended mocha and it was great too. Service is good.

This place is great!!!
Reviewer: Frank
from Santa Barbara, CA
I really don't undestand what's with the bad reviews, I go there almost every day and I really enjoy the food, and the service is always great. And let me tell you they have the best espresso drinks you can get in Santa Barbara.....

Store-bought bagels
Reviewer: C. Brown
from Isla Vista, CA
Not sure why everyone thinks this place has bad service, you're not waited on. You order from a counter and pour your own coffee. My contention is with the food. The bagels look and taste store-bought and my bagel sandwich tasted like it was microwaved. The fruit in the fruit cup was frozen and had no taste, not fresh at all. And the total for two bagels, fruit cup, and a coffee... $23. The only good thing was the Pete's Coffee, but even that wasn't completely fresh, its served from a large, self-serve thermos. There is absolutely no way this place is even half as good as Bagel Cafe.

service is fine
Reviewer: Joe Plumber
from Santa Barbara, CA
The folks that work there are nice, and if you can't understand them, that's your fault. Bagels speak for themselves. Little pizzas are terrible. Fruit is overpriced.

Anyone in charge here?
Reviewer: Sophia
from Santa Barbara, CA
I love Jack's down on Milpas Street, but a couple of times have ended up here for a coffee and bagel and regretted it. The big problem is the service - first a language barrier which means nobody gets what they ordered, and second the feeling that there is nobody in charge of making sure the orders get out to customers. Add in the fact that there is rotten fruit in a bowl on the counter and some of the cream cheese in the chill cabinet looks distinctly old, and you get the picture. If this is owned by the same people that own the other Jack's, they need to get up here and whip this place into shape!

Great food, fast and friently service.
Reviewer: Silvia
from Santa Barbara, CA
I have been a regular customer at this restaurant, and let me tell you the service and food it's better than ever, they are just getting better day by day......excelent atmosphere, and food it's ready in no time.....botton line Great improvements!!!

Good Food and Service
Reviewer: Glenn
from Buellton
Tasty sandwiches I have had here, no bagels though so can't comment on that. Excellent Hot Chocolate, their cups are great unlike other places that let you put the lids on and get everything messy. Can't say anything bad about this place, the servers are a little English deficient which may make for the bad service of other reviews in terms of language mixup.

Terrible service ruins the best bagels in town
Reviewer: Mo
from Santa Barbara, CA
Oh man, I don't know what it is about this place, but I have never had worse service than I do at BOTH locations. I work in a restaurant, so I am maybe too forgiving when it comes to service errors, and I still feel inclined to warn people of how inept the people working there are. I must be a masochist, because the bagels are so good I go in every so often and leave thoroughly disappointed in the utter lack of people skills exhibited by the staff. This place is notorious around town for the caliber of people they hire, and how unfortunate it is because the bagels are so darn good.

Bagels are always fresh- the service is not.
Reviewer: Hobbs
from Santa Barbara
I have been coming here on a regular basis for the past year because of its convenient location to my work. I order the same thing every time (bagel toasted with cream cheese) and it seems to come out differently every time. Sometimes in a bag to-go (even though I say ‘for here’), sometime cut in half, sometimes not, sometimes tons of cream cheese, sometime hardly any – there doesn’t seem to be any sense of consistency. I love the location and their bagels are always fresh – however, the lack of service and inconsistency has lead me to say ‘this was my last time’ – will be trying spudnuts down the street next time.

Grate Food nice people
Reviewer: cindy lopez
from santa barbara ca
Great improvements in the restaurants would recommend!!!!!!

Jack's Famous Horrible Service
Reviewer: Ryan
from Santa Barbara
I've lived nearby for 8 years and this place has gone downhill really quick in the last 3 years. The bagels and food are good, but the service is so horrible I've stopped going. 3 times in a row all the coffee dispensers were empty. They tend to usually mess up your order and just plainly don't seem interested in customer service. I'd sure like to have a local bagel shop I could eat at! However, Jack's on Milpas and in Carp are absolutely distinctly different and much better!

worst service ever - we're not going back
Reviewer: Gwyneth
from Santa Barbara
a copy of the letter I sent to their Dir of Ops:
My family has been patronizing various Jack's locations for the past five years every weekend, we particularly enjoy the Carpinteria location for the friendly and attentive service and excellent food.
However, since we live closest to the State Street location, that's where we end up most frequently. Over the past two years the quality of service has plummeted. The staff is not customer centric, if a customer enters the store when there is no one there, they rarely will break away from their socializing without an, "excuse me?" and they consistently get the order wrong and forget to put the entire order in the bag. In perhaps 8 out of 10 visits, we are shorted part of our order.
This morning's order was missing a bagel and of the three remaining bagels, two were incorrectly made. Only one bagel in an order of four was correct. 25% accuracy is very low. Of course we were charged for the missing bagel, which we didn't discover until we returned home. This is a fairly consistent issue with this location.
Jack's has a good reputation for a quality product, however this location is doing your brand serious damage.
More importantly, my family will never return to Jack's. We've called and visited this location to discuss the problems and the staff simply doesn't understand or care. They have made no effort to recognize their errors or correct them. I am writing this email in the hopes that you will amend this situation before your brand is damaged beyond repair.

Consistently good
Reviewer: Tim V
from Santa Barbara, CA
My fiance and I stop by this Jack's Famous Bagels on a fairly consistent basis, usually before 7 AM. The service has always been fast - the gentleman that helps us goes as fast as he can! We always order the same thing because we always like it! The Sun Dried Tomato cream cheese is awesome - and its even better atop a jalapeno cheese bagel.

Good Bagles, Awful Service
Reviewer: Melissa
from Santa Barbara
The bagels and coffee here are good, but the service is beyond bad. I ordered a bagel with turkey and paid for a bagel with turkey. Not only did my bagel come with NO turkey, but when I brought it back to tell the manager that my order was wrong, he tried to charge me for the turkey again. I told him that I already paid for the turkey and he argued as if he didn't believe me. Finally he agreed to not charge me, however as I was sitting eating my bagel, he was searching through the receipt reel to make sure I had paid for the turkey. It was awkward at best and left left a terrible taste in my mouth for this place. I couldn't believe that a manager would accuse a customer of not paying for something, especially after the staff got my order wrong. Until the service gets better, I will NOT go back to this place again.

Jack's Service is the WORST
Reviewer: Gwyneth Ramirez
from Santa Barbara
Jack's on State Street ALWAYS gets our order wrong. Every single time over the past 2 years. The people that work there don't listen to the customers, probably because the music is so loud. They don't pay attention to the order and get mad if you don't tip them for the poor service they provide. We were faithful customers of the Jack's in Carpinteria because the staff was so good. However, the State Street location is a disgrace and needs to be overhauled.

Delish bagels, but for the price?
Reviewer: elle n.
from goleta, ca
Went here on a break from work on 5/5. Haven't been in awhile, and just wanted something simple. Despite the number of employees there, service was really insufficient. There were issues w/ customer orders as well. The bagel I had was delish, but for the price? Sometimes I feel like I'm better off buying a bag of bagels and a container of cream cheese for the same price as one of their daily specials! It was a nice visit, but it'll be awhile before I go back.

Good bagel...but that's it
Reviewer: Mark
from Santa Barbara, CA
Jack's Bagels are served at my girlfriends office and she wanted me to try them. Looking for a good place for my lox and bagel fix, I agreed and we headed there for Saturday brunch.
The bagel selection was great and I decided on a special from the white board that was a bagel, cream cheese and lox with a coffee or iced tea. I opted for tea with my onion bagel. My girlfriend tried the blueberry. Although there were only 9 customers including us, with 3 of them were already eating, the service was very slow. There were 4 people behind the counter and I assume one was the manager/owner. We placed our order and waited.
I was surprised to see my order was only a bagel, cream cheese and lox without red onion and capers. I should have know since it was not stated on the special. Excuse me but that's the garnish of lox and smear. I asked one of the women for some and she happily got it for me but not before the manager/owner barked at her than at me. In a nasty tone I was informed it was an extra dollar for onion and capers. I paid and sat down to eat. The onion was burger, or onion ring size and not thin but I got what I asked for.
In the end, the bagel was good, the service and prices were not. Had it been me, I would have given the customer what they requested (especially if it was only $1) and politely informed them that next time it would be an extra charge. For that, I would give them a second chance. To top it all off, she never made my iced tea. I was ready to get out of there anyway.
Get your bagels to go and don't waste time on anything more at this "famous" place.

Great Bagels....Bad Service
Reviewer: Jason
from santa barbara
I Jacks bagels. I used to work in a coffee shop that sells them, and im telling you the jalapeno cheese bagel toasted with sun dried tomato cream cheese is a borderline religious experience, however at the jacks bagels on state street I have had nothing but trouble with the service. I've had wrong amount entered on my credit card, several times i've been given food that was not what i ordered and then glared at when i inform them of it. I think my favorite was when I asked for a B-Eggel (which normally comes with lettuce and onion) the one i received had neither, and when i asked if i could get some was told that it didn't come with those, when i pointed at the sign that clearly stated that it did, she rolled her eyes and put a handful of onion and lettuce on a basket and told me to make it myself.
ranting aside i will continue to come back because the bagels really are fantastic.

Yum!
Reviewer: C.S.
from Goleta, CA
Alas, I had the chance to stop by at Jack's this morning for a quick breakfast. To my surprise, the menu had a large variety (from bagle+spread, bagel sandwich, panini,etc.) so it was quite difficult for me to choose! I ended up getting the "B-egg-el" which was your choice of bagel (I chose the Sun-dried Tomato bagel...GREAT choice!) with lettuce, tomato, scrambled eggs, onions, cream cheese spread and a slice of cheddar cheese. AMAZING! The bagel was toasted just right, eggs fluffy, lettuce and tomato were fresh. It was neatly cut into two and wooden picks were placed in both pieces to prevent from stuff falling apart. Only $4.75! I'm definitely coming back again...To try the other stuff! The staffs were all friendly and smiley :)

Jack's backup
Reviewer: John
from santa barbara, ca
Sorry if they’re not really famous, it’s a name. I happen to LOVE Jack's Famous Bagel's and go there every morning before work. My favorite is the sante fe wrap. Sorry if this is not New York buddy, but it's the closest thing to it. If you go in the morning it will usually be pretty busy, but the girl's who work there are very kind and generous. I recommend Jacks, if you're looking for bagels, or wraps!

Good Bagels, Bad Service
Reviewer: Megan
from Santa Barbara,CA
Great Bagels, but bagels aren't too complicated to toast. Try the Egg bagel, they're really great! (Eggs,Cheese,Lettuce,Onion, Tomato, on a bagel.) Only problem is they only have 2 registers, one of which is never open. And they have to complete your entire order before they help the next person. So, if you order 5 bagels they'll be a line of 15 annoyed people out the door behind you. Go help you if you're a GoFor.

Misleading

Who says they´re famous? Have YOU ever heard of them? Have they been on t.v. or FM radio? That´s what I THOUGHT. I´m sorry, but I just hate being lied to.

Disappointing
Reviewer: Joel
from SB, CA
The menu is overpriced, the content in the bagel sandwich is minimal, the bagel is small, and the cashiers didn´t give me correct change. How can they improve upon these shortcomings? It´s quite simple - either lower prices or offer a quality product for the price charged. I personally will not eat here again nor will I recommend it to anyone.

Save Your Money...
Reviewer: Mike G.
from Goleta, CA
I´m from New York. Let me tell it plainly for you all. These bagels are bland, "rubbery" and are way over-priced. Wish I could tell you where to find good (and consistent) bagels in the SB area, but that simply does not exist. The closest I´ve come to a good bagel in CA in down in Torrance in a shop near the corner of PCH and Hawthorne.